The beach

OK, first of all, I am not responsible for this picture. It comes from my friend Sally who is the photographic genius. But it is from a trip to the beach and it makes me really happy when I look at it. Sally and I just had three very productive days of sewing and hopefully you will soon see the fruit of our labor. While we were there it was very gray, certainly not the pretty colors that you see from a previous trip until the day we left to come home when the sun came out. Now why is it that we accept the beach no matter what the weather? I think it is mostly because it isn't the beach really at all, but the opportunity to escape reality, which is really a very helpful coping devise.

Not that life here at home isn't wonderful, because it really is most of the time, but there are the times when it is good to get up in the morning, pour your coffee, go directly to your sewing machine and just sew your heart out. Get dressed when you want to, eat when you want to, don't think about laundry, dishes, the phone doesn't ring, and all of this is done while you look out the window at the ocean.

People too....

Been thinking a lot about a comment made to me the other day. Had a customer say that she thought we would make her feel more welcome. After pondering this situation I realized that there are so many facets involved in the connection that is made when we encounter a customer. We always try to greet everyone with a "Hi", "Can I help you?", "How are you today" and we are always happy to see people, and we do care about our customers. They spend their time and money to come and see us, and we want it to be a fabulous experience for all of them. Without them, we are nothing. So I felt very badly that this situation arose.

I believe that I have the best staff in the whole world. And between us there are six husbands, eleven children, son in laws, daughter in laws, five grandchildren, fourteen parents, nineteen siblings and the list goes on. There are children in college, children in the military, babies, children having babies, we are a group of women with very full and on occasion complicated lives. Probably just like all the rest of you.

So with all of that being said, all I can say is that we do try hard to make shopping with us a great experience, but on occasion the scales may tip to the personal side of our lives taking over the professional. There is so much more to our shop than just fabric, we have become part of many of your lives as well. We have attended weddings of customers, funerals for their family members, we celebrate the birth of your grandchildren, we share the joy you have for a new home, and we are there for your sad times too. So on that occasion when we are distracted, please forgive us, we are people too......

Birthdays and the sewing room....

Our second grandson Justin turned one on Wednesday, January 27th. It is great being a grandparent in the way that you can enjoy watching them grow and change and none of the work or responsibility is ours. Now we only had girls, and these little grandsons are very busy all the time. Don't know if it is the difference between boy and girls, or maybe it is that I am much older now.... I'm thinking it could be the latter. But cake is great eaten with your fingers!

The sewing room is a project in that I have neglected it for a very long time and it is full of things that must be dealt with. It seems that being in the middle of the house is great when you are in there sewing, but when you need a place to stash something quickly out of sight there is easy access. Open the door, close the door, done. Well after a while you have to face the demons, and that is my project for Feb, along with taxes and various other things to numerous to mention. I also realize that I am very easily distracted when I go in there. Found some magazines, so I really should make some tea and sit and read them right? And there is some yarn that I started knitting up, probably won't finish that, so wind the yarn up and put it in the goodwill box. Oh, and there are some pictures that I want to keep, so better put them in the proper basket. You see my process is pretty random. BUT, I am not pressuring myself to get it done today I may as well stay calm about it and try to enjoy this process. It didn't become this way overnight, so I don't have to rearrange my whole world in one day either.

So here we are literally waving goodbye to January. Poor January, it gets such a bad rap in my house. My least favorite month, dark, cold, dreary. But this year, it has gone so fast that I don't really feel any distaste when I think about it. Just that poof it's over. Moving on to Feb. and flowers, maybe a little more sunshine, maybe not, who knows.

A big day

Yes, it is finally here, the first meeting of the newly reorganized Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop for 2010. A great new start. Of course it is rather like herding chickens to get everyone to agree on things, we are all entitled to our opinions. And no, there is no there is never a fabric that everyone will like, so we all need to be like ducks and just let a few things roll off of our backs. But the new shop hop flyers are out so you can pick one up at the store and start plotting your course. We are working on our block always a challenge, three fabrics, 8 - inch, complete kit, what to do, what to do....

The shop received cut goods from a new Collection For A Cause yesterday. These are reproductions from 1860 - 1870 with a fabulous cheddar color included. These goods include charms, jelly rolls and layer cakes. Lots of wonderful scrappy projects await.

Time is sure flying January will be gone with the wind soon....

Such a long time since any creativity has been forthcoming. BUT...for some reason this morning I woke up about 3:00 and just felt the urge to get in and get some things done that hang over my head this time of the year. Tax preparation (a big deal in my house), cleaning my sewing space (I need to quit calling it a hole) and actually recreating the look of the house after the holidays.

Decided that calling my sewing room a hole wasn't really very nice, and that space deserves more respect that being the dumping area in the house for all the things that need hidden. So I opened the door and started pulling out projects and and paperwork. I found a couple of paper piecing projects that I am anxious to get going on once again.

We have wonderful new fabrics at the shop that are nagging at the back of my mind, thus spurring on my process. So it may take a while, but things will be accomplished.

The grandboys are terrific, so cute, what can I say... Collin (15 months) is just a whirlwind of activity, busy all the time, and Justin (a year) is so sweet, still likes to snuggle granny. Chops and Granny enjoy the boys a lot, but it does make us wonder if we ever had that kind of energy.

Not being one for resolutions I rarely bother, but this year I have intentions, really good intentions.

Go out and progress...

It is that special time of the year, and one of my favorite things in the world is the "Yes Virginia" story. Everyone should read it, believe it and live it. I share it with you now because it seems so easy for us to become cynical and self centered, forgetting the beauty, goodness and joy around us.

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Catching UP

So sorry that I haven't kept up, it has been a very busy couple of months.

One of the biggest jobs on the farm during the summer is putting up feed.

Lots of normal rectangular bales go into out barn and then there are the big round bales that weigh around 800 pounds. They get fed in the field during the late summer early fall when the grass isn't growing as well.

The silage bags are 8 ft, by 150 feet, and we do three of them to feed the cows in the winter time.

We also finished up the farming season with the carrot seed harvest. First the seed is swathed and left to dry,

then combined, boxed into totes and taken to the seed company to be cleaned.

Not a great year for farming, but there is always next year.

Moving on to shop news, we had a great weekend at the Portland Quilt Expo the end of Sept. where we debuted the new Quilter's Golden Edge paper piecing projects. They are really addicting and I hope you all have a project sitting by your chair at night.

Dan's family had a reunion and almost everyone made it, a good time was had by all.

We also got to spend a night in Long Beach with our girls and their families, the weather was amazing, it was 83 at noon when we left to come home. Picture perfect weather. It was really fun to have the whole clan together. Our grandson's are growing fast, Collin will be a year in a couple of weeks and Justin right behind him at nine months.

So now we are on to birthdays, pumpkins, turkeys and Christmas, my how fast it goes.

We are going to be hosting a Holiday Open House at the shop this year. And in my spare time

I am painting here at home. It is that wonderful time of the year to get our nest in order.

Till next time, count your blessing, share your gifts, and remember to extend a hand to

those less fortunate.